While the boys were unloading the trailer, Esme, Rose, and I were making a list of things we would need from the grocery store.
"How was the trip?" Esme asked while writing down the basic items that are needed in the kitchen.
"Slow. I thought that we would never get here." I said looking over my list. "Esme, have I thanked you for this fantastic apartment in the last five minutes?"
"Yes dear, I think you have." She chuckled patting my hand.
Emmett and Rose were planning on staying the night and then driving up to Niagara falls for a couple of days before heading back to Washington. Carlisle and Esme had booked a hotel not far from the apartment and were planning on leaving in the morning. They wanted to be there for Edward's 'Parent and Student' orientation that was to be held tomorrow night, but were unable to change their plans at the last minute.
Carlisle, Emmett, and Edward brought in the last of the boxes and all came into the kitchen for some water.
Edward took a big drink off of my water bottle and placed it back on the counter in front of me. "Put down Pop Tarts. Strawberry." He said reading my list over my shoulder. I wrote it down.
After we were all cleaned up and refreshed, Edward's parents took us all out to dinner. We had called and made a last minute reservation, but we still had to wait in the lobby for a few minutes before our table was ready.
Carlisle was outside on his phone, Emmett was studying the menu, and Esme and Rose were deep in conversation sitting on one of the benches. Edward and I were on the other side of the entrance standing together. The restaurant lobby was full leaving very little room.
I had slipped my arms around Edward's back under his jacket while he held me with one of his hands on the small of my back and the other caressing my cheek. He leaned down and placed soft kisses on my lips. I smiled up at him before I rested my head against his chest facing his family.
When I looked over to where they were sitting, I noticed Esme's eyes on us, smiling before she turned her attention back to Rose.
After about twenty minutes our name was finally called, and we were seated. We were placed in a large semi-circle booth with Carlisle and Emmett on each end and Esme, Rose, Edward and I in the middle.
The waitress came by to take our drink orders, and the whole time she was eyeing up Edward and Emmett. Rose gave her the bitchiest look I've ever seen and the waitress seemed to get the hint that our boys were off limits.
"What are your plans now that you are in New York? You have a few days before school starts." Carlisle asked Edward.
"Tomorrow morning Bella has to get registered for her classes, and we were planning on checking out the NYU campus for a while."
"I don't want to get too lost on my first day." I added. "We are going to look for all of my classes and check out the library and stuff."
Edward was looking in my direction with a grin on his face and placed his hand on my thigh. I placed my hand over his and pressed my fingers between his.
We ordered and our meals came and we continued a comfortable conversation for the rest of the evening.
Carlisle and Esme headed to their hotel after dinner and the rest of us headed over to the loft.
Rose and Emmett were set up in the guest bedroom downstairs and Edward and I headed upstairs to get ready for bed.
Edward sat on the edge of the bed and kicked off his shoes. "I still can't believe my parents bought this place for us." He looked around the room shaking his head.
"It does seem unbelievable, but they are your parents." I said. "They really do love their 'baby boy'." I pinched his cheek.
Edward looked at me and rolled his eyes.
"What?" I said sitting down beside him. "You are the youngest, and besides Esme always calls you 'baby'."
"That's new you know? She never called me that before." He said looking down at his hands.
He never discussed what happened while he was in that facility. I had only heard about what got him there, and I'm sure I never really heard that whole story either. It was hard for him to talk about. So he never did.
I changed into one of Edward's t-shirts and a pair of shorts and Edward stripped down to his boxers before we climbed into our new bed.
He was still being quiet after bringing up his past. We laid down facing each other. "Come here." I told him and he rested his head on my chest and put his arm around me while I combed my fingers through his hair.
I woke up in the middle of the night with my throat dry. Edward's head was lying on the pillow next to mine and he still had his arm over me.
I lifted his arm and slid out of bed. I headed downstairs to the kitchen for some water. I was shocked to find Rose sitting on the couch covered in a blanket in the living room.
"Can't sleep Rose?" I questioned. She looked up at me and shook her head. I continued into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge.
I sat down on the couch and propped up my feet on the coffee table taking a drink. I held the bottle out to her and she shook her head again.
"Emmett is snoring." She said looking at me. I started to laugh quietly. "What?"
"Seriously Rose? You have not heard that before?"
"No, I usually fall asleep before he does, or I guess before he starts snoring." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Emmett was driving Edward crazy with all of the snoring and the heat on in the room. That's why he was so cranky; he didn't get a lot of sleep on the trip."
"Really? I had no idea." I looked at her with my mouth hanging open.
"So why are you down here?" She asked. "Is Edward an annoying sleeper too?"
"Nope, I was just thirsty." I grinned. It seemed that I got the best pick out of the Cullen boys.
"He really doesn't do anything irritating?" She said tilting her head to the side with a disbelieving look.
"Meh, sometimes he kicks off all of the covers and leaves me freezing. He gets a little warm when he sleeps, that's why he kept complaining about the temperature in the motel rooms." I chuckled. "No weird noises or snoring or anything. He always has to be touching me, but I certainly don't mind that."
"So that reminds me." She started. "What happened the night we were in Sioux Falls?"
Luckily it was dark in the room or she could see the flush of color rising in my cheeks. "Nothing, I don't know what you mean."
"Come on Bella. Something went on. I could tell. Spill it." She demanded.
I looked at her and bit on my bottom lip. "We finally 'slept' together." I said rolling my eyes and then looking down at my hands fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold out the information for long. I was surprised that I kept it away from her for two days.
"You mean to tell me that the two of you have been sleeping in the same bed for months and have never had sex?"
"Yep pretty much." I still was not looking at her face.
"Wow. I had no idea." She said it like it was the most absurd thing ever. "Well? How was it? I mean, it being your first time and all." She seemed concerned like she was my mother.
"Good? I guess. I really have nothing to compare it to." She chuckled a little.
"It only gets better from here on out." She added patting my leg. "So was it his first time too?"
I thought for a moment. We had really never talked about it before. I had assumed that it was, I mean, he had been secluded away from girls for like two years and he had just barely turned sixteen before he went in.
"You know Rose, I don't know." I was actually shocked about this realization. I knew some pretty personal stuff about Edward, but I knew nothing about past girlfriends or sexual history.
"Well maybe you should ask him." She said wide-eyed. "This is something that couples talk about."
I nodded. "I'm going to head back to bed. It sounds quiet from your room now, maybe the snore fest has died down and you can get some sleep."
I headed back upstairs and found that Edward had shifted to his stomach and had his face half smashed into his pillow, one arm shoved under his head and the other lying along his side. As usual the blankets were shoved to the end of the bed.
I smiled and picked up and straightened the sheet and blankets out and covered both of us before lying down close to him and rubbing my hand over his back. He sighed and smiled in his sleep.
"I don't want to wake them." A female voice said in my dream. "They look too cute."
"I want to say goodbye before we head to the airport. I know you do too, it will be three months before you get to see them again." A man's voice said. "I'll wait downstairs."
I slowly woke from my sleepy haze and felt Edward curled up behind me. He had his arm around me but his hand was under my shirt and flat on my stomach and he had one leg over mine. The blankets were actually still covering both of us.
I felt a small shake. I opened my eyes slightly to find Esme trying to wake her son. "Edward baby, wake up." She cooed while gently shaking his shoulder.
"Esme, you would need five tons of TNT to wake this kid up." I said clearing my throat and sat up unwrapping myself from Edward's grasp.
"Oh honey I didn't mean to wake you. It's just Carlisle and I are going to head out to the airport in a few minutes and we stopped by to say goodbye."
She went back downstairs and after six tries I finally managed to get Edward awake and out of bed.
The six of us were standing in the living room saying our goodbyes to each other. Rose and Emmett were dropping Edward's parents off at the airport before they headed out to Niagara Falls.
After all the hugging and tears we were about to shut the door and Esme turned to us and told us that we should be expecting a big delivery tomorrow. She wouldn't be specific on what it was but that it was a surprise.
While Edward was in the shower, I gathered up all of my paperwork for school. I had an appointment with a counselor so that they could help me choose my classes for the semester.
We left the loft and headed in the direction of my school. We had really lucked out in the fact that our schools were only a few miles away from each other and our home was in the middle.
The weather was fairly nice and we had time so we decided to walk. I linked my arm with Edward's and almost bounced like Alice all the way there. Earning a few chuckles and eye rolls from Edward.
We grabbed coffee and muffins on our way. I was overwhelmed at the size of the campus. We had to look at one of the maps and ask two people where to go before we finally found the right office.
The counselor was very informative and helped me decide on my classes and point me in the right direction for the next semester. I left the office feeling a little more comfortable about my college future.
After touring around the campus and spending an hour in the library we headed home to get ready for Edward's orientation.
Basically it was a meet and greet with the teachers and a chance for the parents of the students to ask questions and tour the facility. I think it was mostly for the parents, the students had another meeting on their first day before classes began.
I dressed warmer than earlier. It got colder in the night and we wouldn't be home until after dark.
Inside of the school there were quite a few students and parents already looking around. Edward and I walked in hand in hand and wandered through the crowd in the lobby.
"Are you excited?" I asked him. "I'm excited and I'm not even a student here."
"Excited, nervous, happy…all of the above." He said squeezing my hand.
"I wish your parents could have stayed. I think that they would have been interested in asking a few questions."
"Yeah maybe. They've hated the idea for so long; I don't really see them being that interested."
"They may not be happy with your choice, but I think that they have decided to go along with it since they want you to be happy. They want you to be in their lives."
"It seems that the do."
We continued to look around a few more minutes and then I saw her. At first I couldn't place her because we were in strange unfamiliar surroundings. But then when she flipped her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder, I recognized her. Our waitress from the Italian restaurant in Seattle.
She was standing with a man and a woman that were very similar to her. Her parents, I would guess. The man was tall with salt and pepper hair and the woman was also tall and had dark auburn hair.
"What is she doing here?" I questioned nobody in particular.
"Who?" Edward asked.
"Her." I said casually pointing in her direction.
"Huh?" He seemed to be just as shocked as I was. He looked down at me and raised his eyebrow at me. "I have no idea who that is Bella."
But then another girl walked over to them. She looked slightly older than our waitress, just by a few years, and she had the same auburn hair as her mother.
I felt Edward stiffen and his jaw locked. His happy face that he has had since this morning turned into a scowl.
"What? What is it?" I asked as he pulled me in the other direction.
"Nothing." I was about to question him more but the school representative called to have us sit in a small auditorium.
As the speaker talked about what the school had to offer and all of the programs that were available to the students, Edward zoned out. He sat so still and his eyes stared at the back of the seat in front of him.
After the speaker was finished we were immediately separated between 'parent' and 'student', and put in separate rooms.
I was getting worried. His mood was freaking me out. I tried to get his attention, but we were separated and the door to the classroom I was supposed to be in closed.
I noticed our waitress's parents and the other red headed girl at the end of my row. They looked proud of their student, but they also acted like they owned the place.
The school representative, who was called Sharon, started talking about how the classes worked, what the students would be doing, and the dorms. She talked about performances that would be held throughout the year including a Christmas production that included all of the departments (Music, Theatre, and Dance), and a final production at the end of the year.
All of the parents had several questions for Sharon. When she would call on them she would ask the name of the student they were with. She would look at her list, find their name and major and continue.
"How safe will it be for our student here? We got her a private room, but now I'm thinking that we should have gotten her her own apartment." The salt and pepper man said. "The dorm rooms are very small and not that nice."
"What is your student's name?" Sharon asked.
"Tanya Denali." He stated like we should all know her. That's what her name was.
"Hmm…Tanya, yes here she is, she's a vocalist a singer?" Sharon said skimming her list.
They continued their discussion. I couldn't pay attention to them. I really didn't care how beneath their daughter it was to stay in a dorm. All I could think about was Edward's sudden mood change. What had happened?
I was pulled out of my thoughts by Sharon trying to get my attention. "Miss?"
"Um…yes?" I answered.
"Did you have any questions? You are the only one who hasn't said anything. Who are you here with?" She rambled on.
"My boyfriend. Edward Cullen." I told her, and looked around feeling embarrassed to be singled out. The red headed girl snapped her head in my direction and looked me over from head to toe.
"Ah…Edward, piano. You know we've been waiting for him for a couple of years?" She said smiling. The funny thing was; she didn't even look at her precious list. She knew who he was immediately. I felt proud, but couldn't get over the girl that was staring so intently at me.
After the long Q & A session we headed out into the lobby to meet with the students. We were supposed to mingle with everyone and then it would be over.
Edward came out of the room the students had been in and grabbed my hand and practically yanked me out of the building.
"Ow, what the hell is going on?" I demanded. He just kept marching on towards our home.
He pulled me all the way back to the loft without a word, into the elevator, and inside our home.
"Edward?"
He sat on the couch and while on hand was running through his hair the other was pinching the bridge of his nose.
I sat down carefully on the couch next to him and waited quietly for the explanation that would eventually come.
He let out a breath that he had probably been holding since we left the school and slid his hands down his face and into his lap. He turned his face to me and he had that worried confused look on his face that he had the day that I first saw him.
"Victoria."